Primary job of a judge is to find solutions, not judgments: Justice Gautam Patel

Bombay High Court Judge Gautam Patel, who will be demitting the office on April 25, during a farewell event where he interacted with lawyers, emphasised that the primary duty of a judge is not merely to write judgments but to find solutions.

Justice Patel, speaking at the event organised by the Bombay Bar Association on Tuesday, further elaborated that not every matter requires a formal judgment; instead, what's crucial is for the judge to intervene and seek resolution.

“Being a judge is to solve a problem in the fastest way possible. Sometimes it needs a judgment, but not every matter needs a judgment, not every matter deserves a judgment,” he noted.

Justice Patel, added, “Sometimes, judgments become a problem rather than a solution. You come across a case so horrific you do not feel like getting up and coming to court. But these are the ones where, if you can step in, you really think you will help a life.

“All that we do is to open a door. When you open that door it is more than 10 judgments,” he added.

Justice Patel, who is retiring after a decade-long tenure at the Bombay High Court as judge, expressed that personally, writing judgments felt like "torture" to him.

“For me, writing judgments is torture. I never know whether it is good enough, whether it had come out well, whether it is accurate, whether the reason will hold to teeth. But I don’t think that is the primary purpose of being a judge,” Justice Patel reflected.

In discussing his post-retirement plans, he mentioned that, unlike many other judges, he has no intention of getting into arbitration. "I have no intention of slogging from 9 in the morning to 7 in the evening in arbitration. There is a lot more out there," he stated.

Justice Patel also expressed his interest in returning to teaching law, emphasising the lack of proper education for those who studied law online during the Covid-induced lockdown.